“You want to know where they found two of the sniper scopes, between you and me [and TTAG’s readers]?” Beretta sales-rep-turned-arms dealer Alessandro Bon asked an “associate” in a wiretapped conversation. “In Afghanistan … They fired on German soldiers with two of the sniper scopes and the serial numbers were traced … and the [German] police are investigating because they were in the hands of the Taliban … I wonder what the hell they were doing in Afghanistan.” The Watusi? propublica.com reports that Bon’s been nicked with an arms-for-cash scheme in Iran, along with four other Italians and two Iranian intelligence officials. “The Milan arms ring operated undetected for at least three years, authorities say, allegedly moving – or trying to move – sniper scopes, various types of munitions, explosive chemicals, helicopters, parachutes, helmets and scuba gear worth millions of dollars.” What, no white slaves?

And they would have got away with it too, if it hadn’t been for those meddling Romanians!

The lead about the arms trafficking scheme came from Romanian customs officials, who were embroiled in a court fight with Bon, the Italian entrepreneur, over a shipment of 200 German sniper scopes. The merchandise had been confiscated in 2008 at the Bucharest airport en route to Iran.

Don’t you just hate it when that happens?

Financial Guard officers are investigating the clues about how sniper scopes ending up in the Taliban’s arsenal. They are also pursuing leads that some of the 1,000 sniper scopes Homayoun bought, paying up to $2,600 each, may have reached insurgents in Iraq. According to the investigative report and Italian officials, British troops discovered the same kind of scopes in Iraqi militant hideouts in Basra in 2006 and 2007.

About Robert Farago

Robert Farago is the Publisher of The Truth About Guns (TTAG). He started the site to explore the ethics, morality, business, politics, culture, technology, practice, strategy, dangers and fun of guns.